1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to a ham product and method for production thereof and, more specifically, to separating a bone-in ham into smaller pieces.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been recognized that many consumers are hesitant to purchase an entire bone-in ham because there is more meat than the consumer can conveniently consume. As a result, bone-in hams are commonly sold at retail in half portions. In a conventional method for producing ham portions, the full bone-in ham is cut transversely through a femur bone in order to cut the product into a butt half, which includes the butt end, and a shank half, which includes the shank tip. The butt half includes an aitch bone and part of the femur bone. The shank half includes a shank bone and the remainder of the femur bone. Both the butt half and the shank half are visually appealing in that only the ends of the femur are visible and the product is not unsightly.
Spirally-sliced bone-in ham products are popular with consumers, largely because of the convenience of being able to easily remove the pre-sliced ham pieces from the product. A spirally-sliced bone-in ham is produced by slicing it in a manner to form a continuous spiral cut around a centrally-located bone, such as a femur bone. Thus, the meat remains substantially connected to the bone such that the spirally-sliced ham remains intact and can be handled and packaged without pieces falling off, folding over, and otherwise deforming. As a result, a spiral-sliced bone-in ham combines the appealing visual characteristics of an intact ham with convenience of slices that are easily detached from the bone and served. Furthermore, since the ham is sold with meat attached to bone, the consumer has reassurance that the meat is not adulterated with undesirable fillers or byproducts.
Although bone-in ham products of this type have been well received, the amount of meat they contain can still be excessive for consumers and smaller occasions where the product is consumed by only a relatively small number of people. Additionally, as the size of hogs has increased, a bone-in ham is likely to be larger. A consumer does not have as much of a need for such a large bone-in ham. Moreover, family size has been decreasing. Accordingly, families do not desire as much bone-in ham. As prices of pork products increase, consumers desire a lower priced product, which will likely correlate directly with the product weight.
Consequently, there is the need to cut bone-in hams into smaller products in order to allow consumers the option of purchasing a smaller amount of meat. Products that provide a third or a quarter of a ham are particularly desired to give the consumer a range of purchasing options.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,607 to Dieso (“the '607 patent”) which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a ham product that is formed by cutting a spirally-sliced half-ham longitudinally through the bone. The cut can be made by feeding the half-ham through a band saw blade by hand, by pushing a split cart through the blade, or by feeding the product through the blade on a split belt conveyor. Whatever method is used involves aligning the femur with the saw blade so that the femur is cut longitudinally and the meat remains attached to the bone around approximately half of its original circumference. Each half ham is cut longitudinally through the femur into a pair of substantially mirror image products that are each approximately one-fourth of the full ham. Even though the resulting one-fourth ham product is somewhat delicate, the slices remain attached to the bone securely enough to stay intact so that handling and packaging can be carried out in a commercially acceptable manner.
The method in the '607 patent presents some issues with regards to non-uniformity of the pieces. When the ham is cut on the “long axis” of the meat as disclosed in the '607 patent (e.g. depicted in FIGS. 1 through 5), the aitch bone is separated unevenly. Almost the entire aitch bone is situated in one of the resulting pieces, and that piece is particularly undesirable for its low meat-to-bone ratio. Consequently, one undesirable piece is produced from each cut ham. This leads to potential waste, as the undesirable pieces may be difficult to sell, and can cause confusion and dissatisfaction among consumers who may unwittingly purchase a piece with a higher bone content than expected.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,214,403 to Peters (“the '403 patent”), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a product formed by cutting a ham into three or four pieces. The femur is cut only once, in a direction transverse to the femur, thus only the ends of the femur are visible. Each quarter or portion having a bone exposes the bone only along a substantially flat surface on its sides.
In a spirally sliced bone-in ham, the femur provides structural support for the slices. When a spiral sliced bone-in ham is processed according to the disclosure of the '403 patent, a boneless piece is produced that does not include any part of the femur. Without the structural support provided by attachment to the femur, slices of ham may fall off, fold over, and otherwise deform, requiring extra care in packaging and transporting the product, and potentially necessitating insertion of a skewer or other support mechanism. Despite such extra care, such a delicate product may nonetheless exhibit an irregular shape that appears “processed” and makes an unattractive presentation at the dinner table. Thus, the pieces of ham lacking the structural support of the femur may lose some consumer appeal.
Further, when a ham is processed according to the disclosure of the '403 patent the bones are divided unevenly between the pieces, resulting in different types of pieces having different characteristics. One piece of each ham is essentially boneless, leaving less meat to be divided with the remaining bone and causing the other pieces to have a lower meat-to-bone ratio than the original ham. Among each of the pieces that contain a bone have only a small amount of bone visible on the cut faces, yet the meat-to-bone ratio varies greatly between these pieces. As each piece displays only a small amount of bone on the surface, the bone content of the pieces may not be visually apparent to the consumer. Consumers may be confused by pieces having similar amount of exposed bone but greatly varying meat-to-bone ratios, and may be reluctant to purchase pieces whose bone content appears to be uncertain.